Teacher's Toolbox

Teacher's Toolbox

Article excerpt

Teacher's Toolbox is designed to provide teachers with useful information, including helpful hints and links to beneficial Web sites.

Scholarships and Grants from Target

Target not only offers scholarships to students through their "All-Around Scholarships for Students" program, but since 1998, they have also provided teachers with scholarship dollars for enhancing their educations.

In addition to scholarships, the company also offers grants in two areas--arts and family violence prevention. If you have a Target store in your community, your school may be eligible for one of these grants. Arts programs should be family oriented, and family violence prevention programs should focus on reducing domestic violence or preventing child abuse and neglect. Applications for grants are accepted between February 1 and November 1.

For more information about scholarships and education grants from Target, call 800-316-6142 or visit www.target.com.

Middle Schools to Watch

In 1999, the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform launched its "Schools to Watch" initiative and has identified four schools as being on their way to meeting the forum's criteria for high performance. According to the forum, high-performing middle schools are academically excellent, developmentally responsive and socially equitable.

The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform is an alliance of more than 60 educators, researchers and officers of national associations and foundations, and their members nominated 64 schools for consideration.

The four schools selected by the National Forum as "Schools to Watch" are Barren County Middle School in Glasgow, Ky., Jefferson Middle School in Champaign, Ill., Freeport Intermediate School in Freeport, Texas, and Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Chicago, Ill.

To take a virtual tour of the four schools, including a virtual meeting with each school's principal, visit www. …